What are activities?

An Activity can combine notes, files, scheduling and team collaboration into a self-contained item. Activities can be used to do everything from managing large projects with large teams to reminding you of lunch plans

Using Activities

Using Activities means that you don’t get bogged down receiving dozens of emails a day because it allows you schedule and manage collaboration within BCERTin rather than through email threads

Setting up Activities is the way to organize your ongoing tasks, such as meetings, appointments, follow-ups, and so on. Using the Activity Editor you can create private or shared Activities

Activities are a reminder of what you need to handle during the displayed timeframe. Activities sync with Outlook and your handheld device to give you both a view of your day/week/month, and also reminders sent to your device. An Activity allows you to enter a detailed, formatted description of the work required and store any relevant files, and allows you to engage in discussions. When you create an activity, it will automatically appear in your personal calendar, alternatively it can appear in a shared calendar which other team members can access

You can invite users and non-users of BCERTin to collaborate in Activities. After being added to the Activity in the Activity Editor, attendees are automatically emailed an Outlook appointment as well as a link directing them to the Activity Space for that activity. If the attendee is a BCERTin user, the Activity will also appear in Zone as an Activity and in their Calendar

Note: Calendar sync works in one direction only, from the BCERTin Calendar to Outlook.

Zone

You can search activities using the search box which appears when you click Search Options

Tip: The default setting is 'This Week.' If you cannot see an activity, try setting your time range more broadly: it might be scheduled for next week. Filter the list by entering a search parameter in the Filter text field and then select All, Subject or Description from the Filter Type list. All is selected by default.

Activity Options

You can filter activities by Time Ranges, Ownership, and Status.

Show Dismissed: allows you to view a list of Activities that you have dismissed

Show Overdue: allows you to hide Activities that are past their due date

Selection – selection of the activity can be based on one of the following selections as mentioned in the drop down list

  • Select All or None of the activities
  • Select Activities with type of Lead Assignment, Unassigned Leads or Follow-up
  • Select Overdue activities

 

Actions

  • Mark selected activities as Defer to move the due date further into the future
  • Dismiss: Hides the Activity from your Zone list and changes the activity's status to Dismissed
  • List Contacts: Searches and displays a list of the contacts "attending" the selected Activities

 

In the Activities tab, there is a set of tabs seen as below

 

The Activities are classified in the tabs based on the type or status

Current: The activities that fall within the From and To Dates range are displayed under the Current tab.

Flagged: Activities that are marked as Flagged are displayed under the Flagged tab.

Private IM: Private IM activities are displayed under the Private IM tab.

Overdue: Activities that are in the past and are not yet marked complete are shown under the Overdue tab.

Upcoming: Activities that are in the future date are displayed under the Upcoming tab.

Dismissed: Activities that are marked complete are displayed under the Dismissed tab.

This classification of activities helps the user to view the activities

 

Clicking on an Activity

Clicking on an Activity below Activities tab displays the following drop down menu, which allows you to join the activity for discussion, and provides access to the Me Space, Activity Editor, and Contacts List

View Activity – Displays the details of the selected activity

View Discussion – Displays the open discussions going back and forth between the attendees of the activity

Mark as Flagged- This will mark the activity as Flagged (Important). The Flagged activities are visible in the Flagged tab in the Zone.

Mark as Unflagged- This will unflag the activity. Once the activity is unflagged, it will not be visible in the Flagged tab.

Edit Activity – Displays the Activity Editor for the selected activity where changes to the activity can be made, if required

Activity Link – Displays a window which provides a link to the activity which can be copied to a post, or a file, etc.

View Me Space – Displays on a new tab on the current browser an online meeting place which is automatically created for collaboration

Me Spaces are secure, private online meeting places that are automatically created to allow for collaboration. Only people invited to a Me Space can access it and Me Spaces are encrypted with SSL security. This means you can share even the most sensitive of information securely online. Me Spaces are archived securely, so your information, files and discussions are kept for easy reference for as long as you need to access them

When a Me Space is created, notifications are sent to the participants (through BCERTin and by Email) who have been invited to ‘connect’ with you. Once invited users log in to a Me Space, they can:

download and share files online use the message board function to have real time chat discussions collaborate without using email and sending long chains of messages back and forth

List Contacts – Displays a list of contacts or Contact Groups associated with the selected activity

Activity Editor

When adding or editing an Activity you will be using the Activity Editor. From here you can modify the details of your activity and invite attendees. You can also Add files and Post any discussions before you save the activity. Track your activity via the Log to see who is making changes to your activity

Users on the attendee list will get the activity in their Zone or To_Do list and use all the functions of the activity.

When you invite regular contacts to your Activity, they can share in the collaboration through the emailed link and Outlook appointment directing them to join what we call a "View Me Space". The "View Me Space" allows them how to read the notes, download the files added to the activity, and reply through the discussion feature.

How to Add an Activity?

1. On the left hand menu tab click SmartOffice. This will display Zone.

2. Click on Create New Activity button. The Activity Editor page is displayed as shown below

4. Enter all the details of your activity

  • Start and End: Activities can be set in the future, such as a "meeting starting next week from 9am to 10am"  This date will be used to filter what displays in your Zone and where on the Calendar
  • Recurring: Opens more options to make this activity repeat
  • All Day Event: Not time specific, just dated
  • Reminder: An email reminder will be sent at the set period before the Start date
  • Location: Could be an address or a URL for an online meeting
  • Priority: Will be sortable in the Zone and ToDo lists
  • Status: Ready is the default, but can be changed to Completed or Dismissed to hide the activity from your Zone and ToDo lists

 

5. Select Activity Files to add files or images or screen shots which can be viewed by all the participants to the activity

6. Select Activity Contacts to invite others to your activity. You can search for contacts or quickly Add New contacts right from here

7. Select Process Flows if you want to attach a task to the process

8. When you have finished, click either Save at the bottom of the gadget which will send an email notification to all attendees of the activity or Save (No Notifications) which will only update the activity and display on The Wall instead of sending an email notification to all the attendees

9. You will be returned to where you came from and the new Activity will be added to your Zone or “To Do” list depending on the option you chose when editing the activity

How to Edit an Activity?

You are automatically the owner of all activities you create, however you can change ownership within the Activity Editor. Depending the Roles and Permissions the user has, editing the activity can be restricted to other attendees

  1. Select the Activity you wish to edit in the Zone. It will be highlighted in yellow
  2. Select Edit Activity from the drop down menu. This will bring you to the Activity Details
  3. You must click Save or Save (No Notifications) to retain your changes. To discard your changes, click Close

 

The Wall gadget allows you to view updates to the tasks and a history of changes to processes and activities you have visited or you might be a part of. Catch up on new events quickly by scanning The Wall.

The To-Do List gadget is a quick list of Activities that have no start or end date. Activities in the To-Do List are meant to be tracked separately and completed quickly.

*Tip: Use this to organize your day to day tasks.